Tender Mercies (1983)

A lot of fun.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

This is a good movie, good on plot and loaded on character study and message. Robert Duvall, in an Oscar-winning role, is a has-been country singer given a second chance with a new wife and a stepson (the previous father/husband in this family had been killed in Vietnam) while his ex-wife continues a successful singing career while prohibiting him from seeing their daughter due the the fact that he used to be an alcoholic and tended to be violent when he was drunk. He attempts to reconcile with his former family, gets a second chance at his career when an aspiring band drops by the gas station where he works, and makes the most of his second chance with his new family and has to deal with a new tragedy.This is mostly a study about decisions in your life, relations with other people, dealing with tragedy, and second chances. It deserved its Oscar awards. Duvall and the rest of the superb cast was excellent, as were the songs and scenes. I loved it and you will too. *** out of ****

Emotional, engaging drama.An alcoholic drifter, Mac Sledge (played by Robert Duvall), finds himself in a small Texas town. He gets a job doing handyman work for Rosa Lee (Tess Harper), a widow with a 10-year old son. Over time, a relationship develops between Mac and Rosa Lee and they get married. In due course it is revealed that Mac was a famous country singer with an equally-famous country singing wife, but alcohol ended their marriage and his career. After trying to turn his back on his former life, Mac now tries to reconcile his old life with his new.Interesting story, with a large emotional content. It doesn't grab you immediately - the setup is quite dry and fairly uneventful - but the movie develops well. Once it builds up a decent degree of momentum it is quite engaging.Was heading for a very profound conclusion but ends a bit abruptly. Sort of eases out, rather than goes out with a bang. Ending is still quite emotional, but could have been better. A more elaborate and developed conclusion was in order.Superb performance by Robert Duvall in the lead role (but that is pretty much a given). Flawed, sensitive heroes with large amounts of baggage are his specialty and here he pulls out all the stops. He well deserved his Best Actor Oscar. Surprisingly, considering his incredible talent and some of the amazing performances he has delivered, this was to be his only Oscar win, though he was nominated six other times.Good support from Tess Harper. Ellen Barkin, in one of her earliest feature film roles, puts in a solid performance as Mac's daughter.

Toward the end a character asks a number of why questions; why did this happen, why that? We don't always know why things work out the way they do; but that's life, for everyone. That's kind of the theme of this slow-developing character study of a damaged man named Mac (Robert Duvall), former country songwriter and singer.The script tells the story of Mac and his life in the slow lane, and his relationship to Rosa (Tess Harper) and others around him. It's a story of simple but genuine folks whose lives center on basic human values like dignity, honesty, and absence of pretense The lonely, barren spaces of West Texas provide the backdrop for the story. As such, the film reminds me of three other films about down home folks set in the rural South: "Gilbert Grape", "Silkwood" and "The Last Picture Show".There's not much in the way of high drama here; there's no suspense; nor is there any mystery. The entire plot plays out in a natural sort of way, as does life for most people. Things just happen; we ponder why; we move on.Visuals look realistic with natural lighting and lots of wide-angle camera shots. Also adding to the sense of realism is detailed production design appropriate to rural Texas. Film direction, casting, and acting are fairly competent.My only real complaints relate to the slow pace and the music. If the pace had been any slower, the story would have stopped; and with the absence of high drama or anything startling in the plot, some viewers will become bored, as I did during a few segments. Also, I was disappointed with the country songs that were sung. None were memorable. As such, the film's tone was less evocative than it could have been.Slow-moving and very low-key, "Tender Mercies" offers viewers a plausible and deeply thematic story of life in a rural setting with characters that are believable and fairly likable. Too bad they don't make many films like this anymore.

I saw it in the library and noticed it was an award winner, so I checked it out and watched it with my mother. Neither of us were impressed.The story is about a former country music star who has collapsed into alcoholism and vagrancy, and ultimately winds up at a rural motel/gas station run by a young widow and her young son. He offers to work for her, and she accepts, telling him he could not drink. But he is still a country music legend, and he is first visited by a reporter, then a garage band who want to meet him. Also in the region are his ex-wife, also a country music star, and their daughter. The rest of the story, of course, has Mac's past catching up to him.While the performances and characters are all credible, especially of the little boy who acts like a genuine little boy and not a precocious stereotype, the story is predictable and holds little in the way of surprises. The song that makes a major part of the story isn't even very good. We don't even learn much of anything about the country music industry or culture.Not bad but not good either. It must have been a lean year at the Oscars.